Irvo Otieno memorial service set for Wednesday in Chesterfield; Al Sharpton will speak

CHESTERFIELD – A funeral for the Henrico County man who died earlier this month at Central State Hospital while in custody of Henrico deputies has been set for Wednesday, with civil-rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton set to deliver the eulogy.

Irvo Otieno’s memorial service will start at 11:30 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of South Richmond’s Chesterfield County campus on Iron Bridge Road, according to an email from Sharpton’s National Action Network.

Otieno, 28, apparently was suffocated to death March 6 while seven deputies and three CSH employees subdued him for 12 minutes in an admissions area at the Dinwiddie County mental-health facility. All 10 people have been indicted on second-degree murder charges in Dinwiddie.

The deputies claimed that Otieno, who was in the midst of a mental-health crisis, had been combative and aggressive, and that was the reason why he had to be pinned to the floor of the admissions room. However, surveillance video from the admissions area showed a lethargic Otieno practically being dragged into the room by the deputies, pinned down against a table and then propped up against a chair. His family and the prosecution claim he only was struggling to breathe as the personnel continued to hold him down.

More:Dinwiddie judge rejects defense motion to hold Irvo Otieno's body as evidence

Otieno, an aspiring singer and musician, had suffered from mental illness for several years, his family said. He was taken into Henrico Police custody on March 3 in relation to a neighborhood burglary, and his family said Otieno went unmedicated from the time he went to Henrico County Jail until the day he died at Central State.

A statement from the National Action Network said Otieno’s death “echoes that of George Floyd nearly three years ago.” Floyd died after video showed Minneapolis Police officers subduing him in a street with one of them holding his knee across Floyd’s neck.

That incident and other high-profile cases of the deaths of Black people prompted demonstrations across the nation over unequal racial treatment in the criminal justice system. Otieno’s family has said his death is an example of how Blacks in mental crisis are treated as criminals while other races are treated as patients.

A GoFundMe account set up by Otieno's brother Leon Ochieng had raised more than $15,000 for funeral and other expenses. The goal is $100,000.

More:Mother of Irvo Otieno 'happy' with indictments of deputies, hospital staff charged in his death

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Funeral for mental patient who died in deputies' custody is set